Puppy Training

eoglyn

Hi All,
I am the proud new owner of an 8 and half week old French Bulldog named Hugo. He's very cute now and will continue to be but i obviously know he's going to get bigger and as we will be living in very close quarters i want to make sure that he is reasonably well behaved. Just so that he won't jump up on strangers or the furniture uninvited and that we'll be able to calm him down when too excited.
I have read a lot about training already from various internet sources but the info is dispersed and can even be contradictory. I am aware that it is more about our behaviour than his and that you have to train yourself to behave couter-intuitively sometimes.
So i'm wondering if anyone has any suggestions for a comprehensive puppy into adult dog training guide books that will help us at this stage in particular but also that we can keep referring to over the next few years.
Any helpful suggestions welcome.

Toulouse

http://www.dogstardaily.com/training/digital-dog-training-textbook

Sigma Force

Maybe Victoria Stilwells books and if you have one in your area puppy classes, they are great for mixing with other pups the same age and it gives you the support you might need when going through naughty chewy stage we found them great when our youngest was a pup. Not sure what county you in but they're great fun and some are held on weekends, happier hounds, dog training ireland and elista education all do classes there's also ones in Cork if you're down that end of the country. Positivley.com is the site for Victorias books or they might be in your local book shop. (Avoid the dog whisperers books like the plague).

With jumping up just turn away and ignore, don't even say a word..puppies hate being ignored, so praise the good and ignore the bad that's just a basic way to go about it there's obviously more to it than that but it's a start.
Kong toys, and other strong safe puppy toys are always handy..have lots to hand..a wee toy box is also handy.

DBB

Toulouse wrote: »

http://www.dogstardaily.com/training/digital-dog-training-textbook

+1 to this. One of the best guides to raising a pup using dog friendly training. And it's free!

By the way, Hugo is a perfect name for a Frenchie! He's lovely. Good luck with him!

eoglyn

Thanks everybody for the quick responses.

I had seen dog star daily but i was slightly put off by the one-mistake-and-its-all-over warnings. I guess i need to ignore that and focus on the rest of what seems like good technique.

I am keen to get the puppy socialised as early as possible with other dogs and i think a puppy class would be brilliant. However i am based in offaly and i think the likelihood of one nearby is slim. early searches haven't turned up anything but i will keep looking and ask the vet when i am in next week.

He has a few toys so far and i will pick up a few more as i go I am especially interested in those toys that you hide food in - i think that would keep him occupied for the stretches he spends on his own. Any suggestions for those would also be welcome.

DBB

I've PM'd you with a couple of options re training and puppy classes, but classes aside, ongoing socialization every single day is vital. Have you friends with dogs that you can visit as often as possible? Obviously not if they're cranky dogs, but the greater range of dogs Hugo gets to meet now, the better.
When I had pups here (and I'd a lot of them, all foster rescue pups), I turned my house into a mad house, inviting neighbours with their kids in every day, lots of different people, I hoovered a lot and used the hairdryer in the same room as the pups, banged saucepan kids, shouted, rolled about on the floor, all sorts of silly stuff, just exposing them to as much as I could in a household setting.
I wouldn't worry at all about any one-mistake-and-you're-out info re housetraining... Not sure what they mean by this! In order to learn, mistakes need to be made, so I wouldn't panic over the odd mistake at all.
Toys-wise, zooplus.ie has a pretty good range of various interactive toys and puzzle toys. Easy to buy more on that website than you'd intended though!